(this is part 2 of a 5 part series on leadership and legacy)

In part one of this series, I began with Abraham Lincoln and why some of his leadership traits are not only necessary in the 21st century, but in fact, leaders like Lincoln remain elusive and rare. In this series, I am processing in my own mind, but then also building a case that if leaders are going to be effective in a globalized world, then certain traits will need to be prevalent. In looking at the legacy of Abraham Lincoln two primary traits needed for leadership in today's globalizing world stand out: 1) Lincoln's resolute focus on a higher purpose and his commitment to something greater than himself and 2) Lincoln's amazing ability to work alongside people with 'clashing ideologies' and to get people who disagreed to move in the same direction.

Now, in this installment, I want to focus in on yet another trait necessary for leadership in an interconnected world and one that has considerable relevance for bloggers and readers of blogs. Leaders in an interconnected world (particularly where English is often the primary tongue of global business, technology, and higher education) will still need to learn how to use words effectively. And perhaps, the best wordsmith in American history remains Thomas Jefferson.

Historian Stephen Ambrose, though, doesn't set up Jefferson as a great leader. In fact, he writes,

"Thomas Jefferson did not achieve greatness in his personal life. He had a slave as a mistress. He lied about it. He once tried to bribe a hostile reporter. His war record was not good. He spent much of his life in intellectual pursuits in which he excelled, and not enough in leading his fellow Americans toward great goals by example. Theodore Roosevelt called him our worst President,"
(To America, p.2)

"He ignored the words of his fellow revolutionary John Adams, who said that the Revolution would never be complete until the slaves were free...Jefferson left another racial and moral problem for his successors, the treatment of the Native Americans...The author of the Declaration of Independence threw up his hands at the question of women's rights,"
(To America, p. 5)

In fact, Eric Metaxas, in his book Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, adds that at one point Wilberforce wrote a letter to "then-president Thomas Jefferson," to plead the case for the emancipation of slaves and for Americans to stop their slave trade. Jefferson never sent an adequate reply.

But, with all of the legitimate criticism leveled at Jefferson, Stephen Ambrose concludes that "Jefferson's declaration that all men are created equal is quoted all over the world. Everyone, everywhere, knows these words," (To America, p. 7). Jefferson also wrote the documents that frame our current rights to universal education (something that eludes many citizens in many country, see also the Millenium Development goals) and Jefferson also wrote the following words: "all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, the opinions in matter of religion," protecting the freedom of faith and public worship in this country. Think about it.

Thomas Jefferson, with all of the myriad of negative qualities one could muster, drafted the documents that still undergird this entire nation. This singular man drafted the Declaration of Independence (which we fight for and of which so many nations are envious of to this day). This singular man drafted the reasoning behind why everyone in this nation has an opportunity to attend not only school, but church and because of Jefferson's words there are even faith based schools in our country. In a world that has too many web pages, too much information, and not enough contemplation, let's not forget that words really do matter and leaders in the interconnected information age should take more time to craft their literary legacy.

-bo